I woke up and got ready to go to my 39 week doctors appointment. (Luckily Cardon got time off of work to go with me) The nurse does her thing; checks my blood pressure, takes my weight, I leave her a little urine sample. typical. She shows us to our room and we wait for Dr. Izu. A few minutes later Dr Izu comes into the room and immediately asks how i'm feeling. I said "fine, just so over being pregnant." He says "Well your blood pressure is higher than usual today...at this late in the pregnancy I think its best if we just induce you and deliver the baby." Cardon then asks with shock "like today?!" Dr Izu: "Yes. Go home grab your hospital bag and some lunch and i'll meet you at the hospital this afternoon. Try to get as much rest as you can tonight in the hospital, tomorrow morning I'll come in and break your water and you'll probably have your baby tomorrow evening. We just want to monitor you tonight because with you having high blood pressure it could put stress on the baby and you're at a higher risk of preeclampsia."
That was a lot of news to digest!
So Cardon and I, both in shock, leave the doctors office and head home to grab our bags and pick up some jamba juice. When I got home I had a complete melt down. All of a sudden I was terrified and my mind was racing with every possible thing that could go wrong. Throughout all of this Cardon has been my anchor. He hugged me and comforted me and we even said a prayer together that all would go well. :)
Here's where the craziness starts....
We check into the hospital and I change into my hospital gown and get into bed. The nurse then checks how far I'm dilated. I'm at a 3. She starts my IV with pitocin and the contractions start. They felt like menstrual cramps...uncomfortable but I could handle it. My mom then comes to my hospital room to visit and to bring Cardon some food. They're both sitting on either side of me when all of a sudden I feel a POP! and then a gush of water! my water broke. I start crying. I was not expecting that to happen since Dr Izu said he would break it tomorrow and to be honest it scared me because I knew the pain was only going to get worse. and it did. way way worse. The nurse comes in and checks me again. I'm at a 5 now. (Keep in mind this was all within about an hour of checking into the hospital). My contractions were almost unbearable at this point. I was bawling while Cardon just held me. He even got a little teary eyed just watching me in so much pain. (love him) I told the nurse I want an epidural and she said ok but first we need to pump a bag of fluid into your system. GRRREAT. So they hook me up with a bag of fluid and I watched as the fluid slowly exited the bag. My contractions were so intense and painful at this point they were coming about every 45 seconds. Needless to say I was bawling. Cardon, who I think had had enough of watching his wife suffer, told the nurse with force "she only weighs 140 I don't think she needs the entire bag of fluid!!" The nurse didn't listen. ha. Finally the bag was empty and the nurse calls immediately for the anesthesiologist. He gives me the epidural and.... nothing. I could still feel everything. I panicked. He then explains that it can take up to 50 minutes to get the full effect. Again, GRRREAT. As time went by the epidural was starting to kick in but NOT enough to where I was feeling overwhelming relief. Ryder was just coming too fast, the epidural couldn't keep up. But it was getting better. And then the pressure started. I yelled to the nurse "Theres a lot of pressure in my butt!!" (haha) She said "ok lets check you." She checks me and exclaims in kind of shock "you're a 10! you're complete!" She hurries out to the hall and yells "we're complete! Call Dr Izu!" Again, I'm bawling. The nurse rushes back into the room with about 7 other nurses and respiratory therapists and assumes the position like she's going to deliver my baby since my doctor wasn't there yet. So I start pushing little by little. She starts to see Ryder's head and tells me he has a lot of hair and to hold off on pushing. Just then Dr Izu comes into the room! Such a relief! I resume pushing and he keeps saying "good job mama!" haha it was so encouraging. He asks if I want to reach down and feel Ryder's head. I shook my head no (I'll just hold him after he's all clean thanks). After about 30 minutes of pushing out comes Ryder!
Everything after that was such a relief! My favorite nurse Paula told me what an awesome job I did :) Cardon cut the umbilical cord (even though he didn't want to at first :) ), the nurses cleaned off Ryder and I was getting stitched up. (I had a 2nd degree tear...not fun).
I remember holding Ryder for the first time, he was perfect. IS perfect. He is such a blessing in our lives and we wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. We love our little baby boy. :)
Ryder Christopher Ellis was born on October 7, 2013 at 7:17pm. He weighed 7lbs 6 ounces and was 21 inches long
Total labor time was around 4 hours! It felt like a long time to me...I can't imagine being in labor for any longer. Everyone was telling me "you're so lucky!" "you better get to the hospital FAST for your next baby!" :)
I'm so glad Ryder came fast. He just couldn't wait to see his mommy and daddy, who love him tons and tons :)
SIDE NOTE: Apparently I make really good placenta's and umbilical cords. The nurses were all remarking on its perfection and perfect color. haha. Also, my uterus was in the shape of a heart! cute, huh?
